Saturday, June 23, 2012

Petition to Save the Furgary Boat Club

Tiffany Martin Hamilton has created an online petition calling on the City of Hudson to withdraw its 30-day eviction demand and grant the Furgary Boat Club (a.k.a. the North Dock Tin Boat Association), which the petition calls "an integral part of Hudson's history and a unique living example of fishing villages of the past," a one-year lease so that the citizens of Hudson can "actively participate in discussions regarding the future of the North Bay and the importance of including and preserving the Furgary." To read and sign the petition, click here.

9 comments:

For proper context and an appreciation of the Hudson River's once extensive shad fishery (today's Furgarians recall details from their childhoods which would be useful to the historian), the best reference is John Mcphee's book on shad and American history, "The Founding Fish."

I don't understand the support to save the boat club, it seems to make no sense to me. Shouldn't the waterfront be a recreational/nature facility owned by and open to the entire community, not controlled and restricted by a small group of people? There are lots of things that used to be, it's good to acknowledge and record them for history, but I don't see how this is a good reason for keeping the club in control of what could be open public park land. Can someone explain what the logic is here?

SlowArt there are 2 realities to consider here, a present one and a reality that's now entirely passed.

The first, the historical point which you acknowledge, is at bottom what's being discussed; the second about "control" of the waterfront is now academic or moot.

Because The North Dock Tin Boat Association - the "Furgarians" - lost their court case, the dispute about "control" is now solved. No one is discussing anything but a delay of their eviction and the value, if any, of the site.

A delay of eviction will help with the remaining task, which is to "acknowledge and record" Furgary for history, and to document as much about it as possible.

Certain politicians and unelected officials who in my opinion basically own the City of Hudson are desperate for this documentation not to occur.

Some people actually resent and even hate history. At bottom, that's what's left to discuss; the controversy is between those who believe it's best to have the time to discuss it and those who'd prefer there was little or even no time left.

The obvious issue at hand is that Hudsons Waterfront has TWO private boat clubs.

Why go after the Fugary, located in an obscure corner next to the sewage treatment plant, while leaving the big club located in the middle of the waterfront with a huge asphalt parking lot ... business as usual ?

Vincent, the Hudson powerboat assoc owns the land where it is located and pays taxes on it. The members there do many great things for the community in a variety of ways. Anyone is able to submit an application to join the club and take advantage of it's benefits. Would you prefer that land being owned by a corporation or it being owned by many members of the community?

(Just wait until people realize that it's the treatment plant that smells, and that it will always smell.)

Of course the city does want to move the Powerboat Association along with the state boat launch. But since the idea is ill-advised from an ecological point of view (the DEC concurs but may have no power in this), don't be surprised to someday find yourself in agreement with our local yacht club.

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About The Gossips of Rivertown

This blog takes its name from the 1850 novel by Hudson author Alice B. Neal. The original Gossips of Rivertown cast a gimlet eye on Hudson society in the mid-19th century. More than a century and a half later, the new Gossips carries on the spirit of the original, but in a different genre and with a different focus.